25 Years Ago Today

[Tom B.]

One of the greatest sports quotes of all time was born.


"This is not a Duke kind of crowd. It’s more like a cheese-and-wine crowd, kind of laid back."

--Florida State guard Sam Cassell, after Florida State won its first-ever ACC basketball game by beating North Carolina 86-74 in the Dean Smith Center

[OldPhiKap]

Happy anniversary!!

[BluDvlsN1]

One of the greatest sports quotes of all time was born.


"This is not a Duke kind of crowd. It’s more like a cheese-and-wine crowd, kind of laid back."

--Florida State guard Sam Cassell, after Florida State won its first-ever ACC basketball game by beating North Carolina 86-74 in the Dean Smith Center

A drop the mic and walk off the court moment if there ever was one!
Who said Fla St is "only" a party school...:D

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Time has changed from "cheese and wine" to "wine and cheese." I am okay with this.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Time has changed from "cheese and wine" to "wine and cheese." I am okay with this.
And more often than not, "whine and cheese"! GTHc! 9F!

[OldPhiKap]

And more often than not, "whine and cheese"! GTHc! 9F!

For me, "whine and cheat"

[TKG]

For me, "whine and cheat"

How about "whine and bleat"?

[ipatent]

Florida State had recently joined the ACC; winning in Chapel Hill was an auspicious start.

[DM_keggy_the_keg]

One of the greatest sports quotes of all time was born.


"This is not a Duke kind of crowd. It’s more like a cheese-and-wine crowd, kind of laid back."

--Florida State guard Sam Cassell, after Florida State won its first-ever ACC basketball game by beating North Carolina 86-74 in the Dean Smith Center

Relevant---a little backstory on the quote's origin:


Olympic Fan, I think I can answer your questions about the original source of Sam Cassell's "cheese and wine" comment, as well as whether Sam changed the words in that original expression or repeated verbatim what he had heard before the game.

As you know, in past decades a bus driver usually was exclusively assigned to transport the visiting team and often got to know the players. On the occasion of the December 15, 1991, FSU-UNC game, that specific driver was a folksy, diehard Duke fan. He accompanied the Seminole players for the shoot-around at the Dean Dome the morning of the game. After 15 minutes or so of warm ups, that bus driver observed the seated, resting players looking around the spacious dome and decided to give the players an informal pep talk. Several players, including Charlie Ward, Byron Wells (more about him later), and Sam Cassell were sitting down with still other players mingling around or shooting. The coaches, including the indispensable rock of the team Tom Carlson (Pat Kennedy's brother-in-law) and the brainy and subtle motivator/psychologist Dave Zimroth, were nearby listening to the bus driver's amusing trash talk. Everybody, including the players, was chuckling at this Tobacco Road original's take down of all things UNC. The bus driver quickly settled on the CHeat fans: "Don't worry about these folks here; they sit on their hands 'cause they are a wine and cheese crowd!"

Now, Sam heard this remark as he was sitting next to Byron (with whom I chatted yesterday-- he is a principal in a local company). Byron confirmed this fact. Visualization of success, without any diversion, was particularly important that day, as Doug Edwards, as a consequence of brawling in the Florida A&M game, was suspended for the UNC game. Tom Carlson assured me that no coach would have ever told Sam anything about a crowd because it would, as Tom put it, "stir the pot", meaning mess with the player's mind. If Sam actually said that a coach (as opposed merely to someone) told him about the Dean Dome crowd, he misspoke, according to Tom. Or Sam was misquoted.

So, the original source of the wine and comment was a jocular and likable Tobacco Road, Duke loving bus driver who had befriended the FSU players in the short time he had spent with them. Byron said that the driver acted as if Duke had just won the national championship after FSU destroyed the Heels that day. He was genuinely happy for the players apart from his ultimate loyalty (the Good Lord and Duke, probably in that order). Moreover, Tom and Byron both confirmed the original comment was "wine and cheese" and that Sam merely had reordered the elements of the expression.

Byron Wells also recounted to me that Pat Kennedy had devised an offense, without Doug Edwards, that would work quite well against the Heels on that 1991 day. In practice several days before the trip, Kennedy placed 4 strips of tape around the perimeter and told each of Sam, Ward, Byron, and Sura to position himself on a tape strip and cut and back pick the entire game. Rodney Dobard, one of the most underrated ACC players of the period and the quickest, best jumper on the team, was to play near the basket. That offense played to FSU's strong suit of quick and good ball handlers who could shoot, thereby producing consistently good looks and made baskets. Kennedy kept it the rest of the year, even following Edwards' return from suspension. It worked well in the season's Tallahassee rematch with the CHeats to the tune of a 110-96 rout.:p

Unfortunately, the return engagement in Chapel Hill on January 27,1993, did not have a happy ending, although for 28 minutes and 17 seconds FSU destroyed UNC. Doug Edwards and Charlie Ward were sick with the flu that day, and Pat, in building a 21 point lead with just under 12 minutes to play, had not adequately rested the starters, who actually plead with the coaches to get a blow, too often without success. In fact, the starters, including the enervated Ward and Edwards, played 182 of the 200 minutes. With 11:43 to play, Coach Smith unleashed a full court press with the result that George Lynch's dunk with a bit over a minute to play put UNC ahead for good. After the game, a dejected Kennedy apologized to the team for his failure to provide the needed in-game rest. The UNC crowd, at full dome capacity with students on campus unlike the December 15, 1991, game, rushed the court. Before the game, the students had chanted, " Wine and blue cheese!" The FSU players, Byron and Sam Cassell included, remain super ticked off to this day that a coaching misjudgment cost them a 13-3 ACC regular season record and a tie with UNC as league leader. The effort expended in the 2nd half comeback may have affected UNC in their next two games: losses to Wake and Duke, respectively.

Byron confirmed what I posted here yesterday about Dean Smith's arrogance during the game, but enlarged the number of occasions of Smith's improper comments to FSU players during that 1991 game. According to Byron, no one on the FSU team had any doubt that Smith was trying to "get in the heads of our players." He said he and most of the players put UNC second only to Florida on their loathing list. His words, as well: "That Carolina Way is a complete sham." If he, instead, had used the phrase Potemkin village, it would not have surprised me, as he is a very smart fellow.

Byron Wells was cheered by the UNC crowd when he was introduced before that 1993 game and congratulated with high fives during the crowd rush afterward for something that had not even happened that day. Byron, in the Duke game in Tallahassee, just 3 days earlier, had shot the game winning 3-pointer in overtime for the FSU win. That play was interesting, as Byron explained. The play called by Kennedy in the huddle was for Sam Cassell to take the inbound pass and with Charlie Ward and Rodney Dobard to set back screens (Edwards for FSU and Grant Hill had fouled out) to free Bob Sura on the right side and Wells on the left corner. When they broke the huddle, Sam told Byron,
"B, I am passing you the ball." Byron thought, "Sure, Sam!" as Sam was not inclined to ever not take a big shot. Everyone on the floor for the Devils, as well, obviously expected Cassell to take it, as was his habit 100% of the time until then. Unfortunately, everyone included Cherokee Parks, who was assigned to close out Wells. Cherokee took a step toward the dangerous Cassell who instantly passed to a surprised Wells. Wells, a 50% shooter that year but with only 25% from the arc (with a fairly low sample size because, in fairness, he had won the Florida three-point shooting title as a senior in high school), took his normal, very soft shot. It grazed the rim and curved around the far side rim as if in a whirlpool and dropped in as though pulled though by a weight. The next play, Ward, atoning for his missed assignment on the screen on the Wells' basket, stole the inbound pass from Hurley to seal the game 89-88. Byron since has good-naturedly referred to his shot as Wells' English.:)

Even though I still feel the pain, I am happy for Byron as he is a very fine fellow. I was not happy for my later co-chairman of the Duke AAA committee for 15 years: a former outstanding Duke women's tennis player, a partner in a prominent law firm, who found her office totally papered by her FSU partners. Unfortunately the Wells' heroics would portend a number of close Duke losses and other white-knuckle games in Tallahassee.:eek:

Best regards.
Blue Professor

[Tom B.]

Relevant---a little backstory on the quote's origin:

Interesting. There's a story (http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/unc/unc-now/article121064213.html) in yesterday's N&O in which Cassell gives a different backstory. He says he described the Carolina fans as a "cheese and wine" crowd because the Smith Center reminded him of the relaxed and casual atmosphere at a wine-and-cheese bar near his apartment in Tallahassee. Maybe he just forgot about the bus driver after 25 years.

[aimo]

My dad's favorite poster of all-time at a Duke game: Is that an egg, or Sam Cassell's head?

[JasonEvans]

My dad's favorite poster of all-time at a Duke game: Is that an egg, or Sam Cassell's head?

http://pickyrpoison.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/cassellet.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nqJ7sN93ZBw/SUrLKeKCykI/AAAAAAAAAFU/NC97CxEXBgk/s400/sam_cassell_alien.gif